The National tribune., 1887-11-24
THANKSGIVING,

apart for all our people TO devote 70 grateful
remembrance Of the innumerable blessings
we enjoy as a Nation and as individuals, and
10 returning thanks for these to the Giyer of
all Good.
No people on whom the glad sun shines in
his journey around the globe have more roa-
son for abounding thankfulness than ours
Upon our land there rests peace that none
others know. There are neither wars nor
rumors Of wars at home or abroad. We are
not even in contention with any Of our own
people, or any that live upon the earth.
Pestilence and famine have stayed their
course far from our shores Our fertile soil
has borne abundant haTyests-more than
sufficient for the feeding Of every soul be-
meath the Flag. Prosperity has blessed alike
the farmer in his field, the workman in his
shop and the merchant in his counting-room.
Religion, Morality and Education constantly
extend their benefcent influences. Our peo-
pie are not only richer individually and col
| lectiyely than they ever were, but they are
living up TO higher moral standards; they
are more regardlul Of the laws Of God and
man; they are possessed Of more knowledge,
and even the poorest among Us enjoy more
of the substantial comforts Of life than they
ever did, and this is true in a higher degree
Of our own people than any other in the
world
While returning reyerent thanks to Him
from whom all these good things have come,
we should consider the earthly agencies TO
which, under Him, all these are due.
There would have been none of this pros
perity and happiness if the men who carried
the Flag during four years of blood and
death, and perils that bestrewed their path
as thickly as leaves in Autumn, had wearied
in doing their terrible task. There would
have been none of these if they had not
endured and persisted as stubbornly as they
fought. 1t was not sufficient that they
should fight as men never fought before
they must also endure as men never endured
before 1T did not avail that they fought
with unequaled gallantry on the plains Of
Manassas and at Fredericksburg. Where in
other lands one bloody battle had been all
that was necessary to secure the triumph of
the Right they had TO fight more than 1000.
They had to rise superior to the disastrous
fields of the Peninsula TO encounter the
enemy with renewed courage at Manassas,
and, undismayed by that reverse, assail him
determinedly at Antietam and brave de-
struction at Fredericksburg. They must
bury their thousands Of dead under the
shadow Of Marye's flights and go TO meet
an equal loss at Charlottesville They
must not rest upon their laurels at Gettys-
burg, but march on to the awful carnage OF
the Wilderness, the slaughter Of Cold Har-
Dor, the weary months of bloody fighting
around Richmond and the death grapple
with the rebellion between Petersburg and
Appomattox. Neither Shiloh, Yicksburg
Stone River chickamauga or Atlanta would
have won our present blessings for u.s. They
all had TO be fought before the glorious end
was secured.
1t may be said that the grass would have
grown as greenly, the wheatfelds been bill
lowy with the same golden grain, the cattle
fattened as well upon Thousand hills, il
the rebels had been victorious, as since they
{ were defeated utterly and completely
r Some may say that the soil would have beer
as fertile, the sunshine as bright, and tn,
; rain as kindly If Gettysburg had been wor
by Lee, and Grant had surrendered TO PeE,
berton. But soil, sunshine and rain are not
all the elements of mans prosperity.
Had the awful slaughter of Gettysburg
Chickamauga or the Wilderness discouraged
our soldiers from further pursuance of tn,
! work TO which they had devoted themselves
! not only all the dead who had fallen would
have died in vain, but all the future woulC
have been overcast with poverty and misery
Instead Of one grand, united country, will
all the land from ocean 10 ocean under on
: flag, with all the inhabitants at peace witt
one another, all governed by the same laws
e all mingIing freely with each other, each pur
= suing his business where profits invited hin
most strongly, we wouldhav two-probabl
e a dozen-jarring little nations, each frettin
the other with jealousies, rivalries and ami
J. mosities, each intriguing against the genera
: : good, each scheming against the others CON
% merce and industry, and each menacing th
others with standing armies and warlik
q preparations. Instead Of every man bein
at some peaceful occupation, aiding in build
ID ing up the wealth Of the whole people, "
: should have had enormous standing armie
). with crushing taxes for the support of II
e soldiery and the purchase Of war material
ID We should build more forts than railroad
81 make more cannon than locomotives, ere
more barracks than manufactures. Instea
b. Of the farmer Of Nebraska being able to sen
bie Grain diraf.flv "a the eaaboard ~ To-